The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday.  Since we weren’t shopping and everyone else was, we thought this would be a great day to have a yard sale.  Also, when we lived in our other house downtown, we noticed our neighbors who had a yard sale on this day had a great turnout.

Our sale went great!  It’s surprising how much stuff we have that we never look at.  We bought DVD’s thinking that we’d watch them, but over a year later, they just sit in the shelf collecting dust.  Doreen would love to know how many people came wanting cheap comics!

While we worked hard in the cold for two days, Elizabeth watched TV and had snacks and played in our leaf pile in the front yard.  One time she was playing with some blue painters tape and made herself a beard.  Then she went to Paul and said that she needed to shave, just like daddy.

What about Cameron?  He worked an 18+ hour shift on Black Friday and slept on the Saturday.  He woke up while we were eating lunch (after we had cleared up) and asked, “weren’t you guys going to have a yard sale?”

Elizabeth had a toy house outside.  With the weather getting cooler, we scrubbed it down and brought it into the play room in the house.  Suddenly this week, she wants us to join her inside the house so she can make us a cup of tea.  It’s a bit dark in the basement, but you can see that even Paul managed to get inside the house.  On this evening, she was only having a juice box, though.

We couldn’t get her to hold still for very long (too much candy, perhaps?), but here is the costume.  She was a Home Depot worker.  (English translation:  B&Q’s worker).   I took her out to the county attorney’s office to trick or treat on Thursday, then on Saturday evening, we just went to one neighbors house across the street and then to Daniel’s.  Jessica was working and Aunt Tammy & kids were there also, so we just had a visit and then came home.  At this age, who really needs a ton of candy, right?

Elizabeth has started singing the alphabet to us.  Not the whole alphabet, but she has a little tune to “B, C, D, E” and “X, Y, Z”.  She has also increased her counting up to #5.

I tried my best to cut Elizabeth’s hair last night.  Nearly 2″ gone off the back!  Looks a lot cuter and not so mullet-y.

We went to Las Vegas this week to visit Paul’s family from the UK.  Here is what we came home to:

She wanted me to buy this for her when we were out shopping one day. For some reason she can’t keep other things in her hair, but she loved this headband.

Another favorite thing Elizabeth has discovered are berries.  Whenever I can find a good deal, I’ll get her a package of raspberries, blueberries or strawberries.  She finishes a package in about a day.

Here are a few pictures from Cameron’s birthday party, which just happened to be on Elizabeth’s birthday, August 29th.

In such a short time after turning 2, Elizabeth can insert shapes into her toy, sort crayons by color and name most colors correctly, count to 3 and is now starting to speak (very sort) sentences.  She’s such a smarty!

Nanny is coming to visit in a couple of weeks so Elizabeth is naturally very excited.  She’s also very excited to see Rebecca and Auntie Elaine as well.

Sunday afternoon and Elizabeth wants to go to the garden.  Paul & I decide we’ll tag along with her and take a quick look at what’s out there.  Here is what we found:

The peppers are growing like crazy and the radishes have grown overnight.  On the verge are green beans, more peppers, beets and round 2 of tomatoes.  I found out that if you cut back the tomato plants after the first harvest, you can have a second harvest before the frost.  Whaddaya know — it worked!!  There are 4 currently on the plants, but many, many more blossoms out there.

What have we been doing?  Elizabeth and I try to get out of the house at least once a day with either duck feeding, recycling, grocery shopping or the splash park.  This gives da-da (paul) more time to work that is uninterrupted.

Every Thursday morning, Elizabeth and I go to the  local splash pad in downtown St. George and play in the river.   Other days, we go to the park or just work in the garden.

I try to get Elizabeth out every morning because she then takes a long nap, and also it’s just too hot to go out in the afternoon.  We’d rather not have her cooped up in the house all day long.

In the afternoons, I try to do some other activity to keep her away from vegging in front of the TV.  This is when I run my errands like grocery shopping or going to the post.  It’s been just over a month and so far, we’ve been successful.

Paul has been working full time now that I’m home.  Don’t worry everyone — we’re doing okay financially.  We haven’t even had to touch our savings at all!

Starting Monday, I’ll be volunteering at an “assisted living” (aka: old folks home or OAP).  To keep my sanity, I need to have some time out of the house.

Cameron & Elizabeth are getting quite cozy lately.  She’s constantly wondering where he is.  She wants to talk to him and know what he’s doing at all times.  She’s the first to greet him after he comes home from work.  Well, besides Buster, of course.

Jonathan made a surprise visit today.  We all met at David & Tammy’s new house for pizza.  We were able to have all the grandchildren gather for this rare photo opportunity.  Poor Cameron towers over all his cousins.

Left to Right:  Stephanie holding Justin (I think), Jessica, Cameron holding Elizabeth, Mindy holding Adam, Naomi, Tiffany (folding arms).   In the front is Emily, Sage, Dalton, David, Ryan, and Jason.